Al Qaeda in Iraq ' Killing Off ' Former Allies

It's not shocking to hear of anything al Qaeda in Iraq is doing nowadays but this story has to send some shockwaves through the Sunni community in Iraq. U.S. military officials have produced a video that was confiscated from a raid in Samarra that shows the execution of Sunni insurgents who had fallen out of favor with al Qaeda in Iraq. These are the executions where the Sunni men are kneeling, blindfolded and assassins shoot them in the back of the head from behind.
Here's what a military spokesman for the U.S. said:

"Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is foreign led and foreign dominated here inside Iraq, is killing off other Sunni groups that are certainly not supportive of the government of Iraq, currently, or of the foreign occupation, but are not sharing the same ideology that al Qaeda in Iraq has," Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said.

As al Qaeda in Iraq has been pushed further and further into a corner in Iraq, their tactics have grown more and more extreme - we saw that with the suicide bombing using two mentally handicapped women. And unfortunately, we probably haven't seen anything yet.

Here's the full story.

Admiral: Al Qaeda in Iraq 'killing off' former allies

BALAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Video provided to CNN shows an al Qaeda in Iraq firing squad executing one-time allies -- fellow Sunni extremists -- who were not loyal enough to the terror organization, coalition military analysts said.

In the video provided by coalition military officials, armed men wearing masks are shown standing behind nine kneeling men, all of whom are wearing blindfolds or hoods with their hands presumably tied behind their backs. The video shows the men being executed.
The video was recovered late last year during a raid on a compound near Samarra that was being used for killing and torture, a coalition official said.
A number of documents -- some found in the same raid -- bolster the coalition notion that al Qaeda in Iraq is waging a violent campaign against its former allies, intelligence analysts said.